Alek Shrader on directing Dido: "Ideas assail me."

Interview

"Tina Fey said 'If you want to be a screenwriter, take an acting class to get a sense of what you’re asking actors to do.' It's another perfect quote from one of my writing idols, and my performance experience definitely informs hypothetical staging."

Talking with conductors: Joseph Mechavich

Interview

"It is essential that both the director and conductor celebrate the singer-actor and love the act of storytelling. The awesome feat of the singer producing their sound and getting that sound into the house should be respected."

Talking with singers: Leonardo Capalbo

Interview

"I will not play Carlo as a wounded bird. He may lament the many things which he has lost in life, but his cries are not in vain."

Talking with singers: Robert Hayward

Interview

"I get a thrill working in opera, a physical and mental high to unravel the personality of different characters and to earn a living from it is an honour. The UK is blessed with great opportunities for singers young and not so young."

A lesbian chamber opera to span centuries: Pomegranate

Interview

"It shows how lovers can be so deeply bonded that they remain loyal to each other across huge time spans and are once again drawn together, even without recognizing why, just acting on instinct."

Talking with singers: Stephen Costello

Interview

"In my off time, I come home. My wife Yoon and I live in NY. She plays violin in the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera. I don't get enough of a chance to see her and I'm hardly ever at home."

The Verdi Chorus & the Walter Fox Singers: 36 years on

Interview

"These singers are also part of a whole team where they have a certain amount of responsibility as section leaders of the Verdi Chorus, and it is up to them to know their music better than anyone else and develop their musicianship."

Talking with singers: Gerald Finley

Interview

Shady characters aren't new for the affable Finley; before adding Iago, Baron Scarpia (Tosca), and Duke Bluebeard (Bluebeard's Castle) to his repertoire, his career was famously rooted in two of Mozart's most prominent cads, Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni) and Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro).

A prodigy grows into his art

Interview

"It's like when you meet a love for the first time and for the first two months it's ecstatic love. That's what I need to do with my music and with roles; to have that spark at all times because it's what refreshes me."

Talking with composers: Mark Grey

Interview

"Getting my hands dirty planting the earth, tending to the land with a chainsaw, baking and brewing, reading, and maybe driving up the Highway 1 coastline will ultimately blow out any cobwebs. Also, long walks and hikes really get my ideas flowing."